


Without Love

by shelovesyouyeah



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, coffee shop AU, non smut, ziall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-28
Updated: 2013-09-28
Packaged: 2017-12-27 20:14:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/983135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shelovesyouyeah/pseuds/shelovesyouyeah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"It becomes a small bit of a routine, every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday, Zayn comes into the coffee shop at 6:43pm, orders either a hot chocolate or a peanut butter banana smoothie, reads his book and leaves at 8:05pm.  Not that Niall is keeping track, or anything."</p><p>In which Niall works at a coffee shop and is stupidly clumsy and shy, and Zayn is a frequent customer at that coffee shop, with an infatuation with the blond barista.</p><p>Sort of loosely based, but inspired by Mary Lambert's "Same Love" music video.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Without Love

Niall cursed under his breath, as he dropped a mug he was carrying from a recently vacated table to the kitchen. He kneeled down to pick it up, and as he was doing so the bell on the door to the coffee shop rang cheerily, and in walked most likely the most attractive Niall has, and will see in his entire life. 

He was tall and leanly muscled, with tanned skin, high cheekbones, gorgeous brown eyes, raven hair styled slightly under a red beanie, and a thick book in his hand. He smiled slightly at Niall, who was humiliated to be on the floor picking up a few pieces of mug that had broken off from the contact with the floor. And what do you know, just as he stands up, the other mug crashes on the floor, and breaks into three pieces. He spares said attractive human a glance, and he can see his lips twitching into a smile. The blond could feel his face heating up, as he gathers up the other mug and stands, before walking towards the kitchen, ditching the mug's remains in the nearest garbage. "Just my fucking luck" he mutters under his breath.

~>~>~>~>~>~>~~>~>

Zayn pulled his hoodie tighter around his body, as the cool September air sent a chill through his spine. He sighed in relief as he finally got to his destination, a small coffee shop not too far from his school. He opens the door, and is met with the sight of a small blond on the floor, picking up pieces of a broken blue mug. Just then the blond looks over and gives Zayn a slight smile, who gladly returns it. Zayn keeps his eyes on the boy as he stands up, only to drop the other mug on the floor, Zayn has to bit down on his cheek to keep from laughing. He feels sort of bad as well though, as the other blushes fiercely, before dumping the mugs into the garbage and scurrying off into what he presumes is the kitchen. 

After ordering himself a hot chocolate, he sits down on a surprisingly comfortable wooden chair, and reads his book while he waits for his drink to come up. 

"Here's your hot chocolate!" comes a cheerful voice with an Irish lilt. Zayn looks up from his book to be greeted by the adorably clumsy blond from earlier. 

"Uh, yeah thanks-" Zayn looks quickly at the boys name tag, "Niall" Zayn says, taking it from the boys hands and setting it on the table. Niall smiles at him, and quickly retreats back to behind the counter. 

Even after Zayn leaves, Niall is still on his mind.

~~..~~..~~..~~..~~..~~..~~..~~…

 

It becomes a small bit of a routine, every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday, Zayn comes into the coffee shop at 6:43pm, orders either a hot chocolate or a peanut butter banana smoothie, reads his book and leaves at 8:05pm. Not that Niall is keeping track, or anything. Most of the time though, Niall is doing something different when Zayn is ordering, which means he hardly gets to see Zayn. 

Niall is really getting desperate. Not that he's stalking Zayn or anything, he just really want to get to know him figure out his last name (he found out his first name when he came in with a group of friends one night), maybe kiss him a little. Luckily, though it seems God is on his side in this, because on a Wednesday night Zayn is in such a rush that he leaves without his book. Knowing he would be back for it, Niall makes sure to keep it safe for him, so he takes it to the counter, and  
hides it in between some napkins. 

Zayn's halfway home when he realizes his mistake, which was leaving his book at the god damn coffee shop. He contemplates just going back to pick it up tomorrow, but he did end the chapter right at one of, in his opinion, the best parts, and he simply won't be able to sleep without finding out what happens next. Plus Niall might still be there. So he turns around and sprints through the darkness to the coffee shop.

When he gets there, Zayn is crestfallen at the sight of the closed sign. Just as he's about to turn back around, the door quickly opens, and there's Niall, standing there in his adorable little red apron, with matching flushed cheeks. 

"Hi! I uh, noticed you out here and well- I- you're here for your book, yeah? You left it on your table, but I've been keeping it safe for you! In between the napkins so that if something did spill it wouldn't get hurt! But I didn't spill anything on it so it's alright! Oh god, okay um do you want to come in for a sec? I'll grab your book but yeah, it's dark and cold outside" Niall finishes, his face even more red than before, looking nervous before Zayn, who smirks and walks inside, trying not to grab the near stranger by his face, push him against a wall and make out with him.

"So, 'Struck by Lightning, eh?" Niall asks, looking at the title of the book Zayn's left, before handing it to him, as though he hadn't spent the last 3 hours feeling the spine, and looking inside the book, just incase Zayn left a secret message inside. It didn't.

"Hah, yeah, it's pretty good, not too far in, but I'm really liking it so far" Zayn says, taking it from the boy and tucking it inside his jacket. "Well, thanks for being around so I didn't come back for nothing. I'm Zayn, by the way" 

"I'm Niall, it was nice seeing you, come back soon!" 

"I definitely will, thanks again!" Zayn says, pretending he didn't already know his name from his name tag. He makes his way to the door and exits, mentally saying Nialls name in his mind millions of times, unknowing the Irish boy was doing the exact same thing on the other side of the door.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Zayn wasn't much of a party person. He very much preferred doing other things, like sitting in a coffee shop reading a book and admiring a certain gorgeous irishman. But alas, he did have friends, who did like to party, and also liked to invite him to parties. So that's where he found himself, sitting at the breakfast bar on a Saturday night, sipping at some tap water while scrolling through his twitter on his phone, wishing he were somewhere else. 

"Zayn? Hey!" he hears an extremely familiar Irish voice say. He turns around and is faced with a mildly intoxicated Niall, from the coffee shop.

So maybe being here did have its perks.

"Niall! What are you doing here?" he asks him, quickly reaching out and arm to steady the boy, who began tipping backwards.

"My mate Louis invited me! Wanted me t' meet his apparently 'super amazing and insanely sexy boyfriend, Harry'" he says with an eye roll.

"You know Louis?" Zayn asked, surprised that Niall knew and was friends with one of his close friends. 

"To be fair, man, who doesn't know him?" Niall laughed, taking another sip of his drink. Zayn grinned at that, and beckoned for Niall to sit with him, which he thankfully did. 

That night they sat for a good hour and a half, talking about everything from family to bands to why the fuck eggplants even exist. It was around 1am when they decided they had partied enough that night.

"It was super nice talking' with yeh man, hopefully I'll see you on Mondaaayyyyy!" Niall slurs, after having gotten progressively tipsier over the course of the night, until he was borderline drunk.

"Yeah man, you too! Hey have you got a ride home though?" Nialls face contorts into a look of panic,

"Shit! I was supposed to catch a ride with me pal Sean, but I think he took a lady home"

"No worries, mate. Why don't you stay at mine for the night? I can make breakfast in the morning that'll help with the hangover you're no doubt gonna have" Zayn offers, looking at Niall a bit apprehensively, hoping he didn't sound creepy. Luckily though, the Irishmans face lights up at that, and without warning throws himself into Zayn's arms, wrapping his arms tightly around his neck. 

"That would be sooooo great Zayn! Thank you so much". Zayn laughs, squeezing the blond back.

"No problem, lets go, then!"

~.~.~.~.~.~>~>~>~>~>~>>~>~>>~

Getting Niall into the car was easy, however getting him out proved to be a bit difficult. He wasn't as drunk as he was at the party, due to the half hour long drive, but he was still intoxicated, and he was even more clumsy than he already was.

"Okay Niall, you're gonna have to work with me here, at least stand up and I'll help you inside" he says, unbuckling the intoxicated boys seatbelt. 

"Nah, why don't we just sleep here! It'll be like a fun sleepover"

"Because you're gonna have a wicked headache in the morning and waking up with the sun staring directly at you will not help" Zayn tells him. Giving up on trying to get him out of the car, Zayn lifts him up bridal style from the car, and hip checks the doors closed, balancing Niall in one arm while he quickly locks his car.

"Woah buddy, at least ask me on a date first" he says, grinning stupidly and hanging onto Zayns neck with his arms. 

Once they're up to his floor, Zayn carefully sets Niall on the ground and digs around in his pockets for his keys, which he unlocks the door with. He beckons Niall inside, and closes the door behind them. 

"Alright, you tired? We can go to sleep" Zayn suggests, looking over at his intoxicated new friend, though he had sobered up a little bit on the drive home, who's looking at the mirror placed by his door. 

"I don't think I'm tired, yet, do you have food? I'm craving noodles, man".

And that's how Zayn and Niall ended up spending an hour and a half sitting on the floor, eating shitty ramen noodles, and watching reruns of That 70's Show. 

Just as the last episode ended, Zayn looked over to find that Niall had somehow fallen asleep against the couch, and was snoring softly. He nearly cooed at the sight, because of how adorable the younger was being. Instead of waking him up, though, he merely lifted him onto the couch, and went about grabbing blankets and pillows, to set him up for the night. And with one last glance and a very, very soft kiss to the forehead, Zayn turned off the light and went to his own room.

It's probably getting close to three am when Zayn wakes up to a body carefully climbing into bed with him, or as careful as you can be when you're still partially tipsy. At first he freaks out for a couple seconds, before he realizes it's Niall. 

"Niall?" he asks groggily.

"Hi, mate, sorry that couch is just doing a number on my back, I can go, though?" he whispers, pausing as though he's about to get up. 

"Nah, it's cool I know how uncomfortable it is. Sorry I put you there" he tells him. Niall assures him it's alright, and within 5 minutes both boys are fast asleep. 

~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>>>>

Niall isn't sure what time he wakes up at, but he wakes up with an arm around his waist, his head resting on a firm chest and soft breaths blowing into his hair. Also, with a pounding headache and feeling like he's going to puke, but he throws that one aside for a small while, so he can bask in his sleeping position. 

He knows what happened last night, he wasn't that drunk, but he sure was enough so that he would get the dreaded hangover. He's torn out of his thoughts by a shifting beneath him, and looks up to find Zayn's eyes slowly opening. Warm brown eyes meet his blue ones, and he smiles a little at the sight of such a beautiful boy being roused.

"Morning" Zayn yawns, obviously not bothered by their position. 

"Morning, Zayn. Thanks so much for last night, it was really nice of you, considering we've barely talked before"

"It's really no trouble, I have no classes or anything and you needed a ride". Niall grins and nods, before wincing at the throbbing in his head. Zayn looks at him sympathetically,

"Here, I'll grab you an Advil, and then make you the best hangover breakfast you've ever had, meet me in the kitchen" he says, gently untangling himself from Niall and then springing off the bed into action. Niall stared after him, smiling to himself before slowly getting up to use the restroom, and then meet Zayn in the kitchen.

 

Staying true to his word, Zayn had made Niall possibly one of the best breakfasts he'd ever had. It was surprising how much hospitality Zayn gave him, considering how they had never really even considered themselves as anything close to friends before last night. However, the kind boy treated him to a fucking amazing breakfast, which consisted of eggs, bacon, fruit, and surprisingly, honey sandwiches.

"Trust me, Niall, these help" Zayn had told him. Niall figured he had nothing to lose, plus, his hangover wasn't even awful, but he still had one. 

After breakfast, Niall quickly used Zayn's shower, and then had to leave for work, but not before exchanging numbers with the darker haired boy, and making him promise to come to the coffee shop soon. He leaves with less of a headache, and a head full of a gorgeous and wonderful boy.

~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~

Zayn and Niall had progressively gotten closer over the past few days, even though it was a short time, they texted constantly, learning new things about each other with each conversation. For example, Niall would be laying on the couch, on his laptop when a text from Zayn would pop up, saying something like 

"Have you ever done dance? I took a jazz class when I was 7" and things like that. And even though Niall absolutely loved texting Zayn, he was more than ecstatic when Zayn had told him he was going to be coming by the next day. So he waited eagerly for tomorrow could come, so he could see the new boy of his interest.  
~>~>~>~~>~~>~>~>~

"Jesus christ, Niall, you're gonna give yourself whiplash if you keep on turning at that speed every time the door rings! Who're you waiting for, anyways?" his coworker, Liam asked him, leaning against the counter. Liam was a genuinely kind and caring guy, it wasn't the fake kind who just wanted to know your business, so they could gossip, no, he actually cared. Which, was rather refreshing, but it was also stupidly annoying, because even though he wouldn't be offended if you didn't tell him, you felt like you had to, because he was that nice.

So, Niall was about to open his mouth to finally, finally tell someone about the Zayn situation, when the bell on the door chimed and Niall turned around so fast his foot caught on a towel that had fallen to the ground, and he probably would've hit the floor broken his face on the floor, if it weren't for Liam, bless his soul, who most likely saw this coming, and grabbed him around the waist, before he could fall too far. Niall was startled, but looked up at Liam appreciatively, 

"Thanks, Li! Don't know what I'd do without ya" he says, giving him an affectionate hug. Liam laughed and returned it quickly, before Niall remembered why he had nearly broken his face, and promptly turned around (slower, this time), with an arm still over Liams shoulder and looked towards the entrance.

And there stood Zayn, clad in a black beanie and army jacket, clutching a new book in his hand, looking at Niall with an amused, and some other emotion that Niall couldn't quite place- expression on his face. 

"Well hello there" the Bradford boy said, hitching his backpack up further on his shoulder, and walking towards the counter. The blond grinned a megawatt smile, and waved at him,

"Hey, Zayn! How's it going? Thanks again for Saturday, and Sunday" he said, taking his spot behind the till. 

"Yeah, no worries man, stop thanking me!" the older says with a laugh, leaning down to inspect the coffee shops selection of food and bottled/canned drinks. 

"So, how long've you and that other barista been together?" he asks casually, picking up a wrapped panini. Niall looks at him incredulously, and he's pretty sure Liam drops a plate.

"What?! You mean Liam? No! God no! Absolutely not! I mean he's great and nice, but no!" Niall nearly yells,

"Right back at you, Niall! Hi, by the way, I'm Liam, who is not dating Niall" Liam says, coming over and smiling at Zayn, who awkwardly returns it.

"Sorry! It just kinda looked like… yeah, um, can I have this panini?" he finishes lamely. Niall grins and takes it from Zayn,

"Want this heated up?" Zayn nods, and Niall bustles off to the microwave. As he does, Liam leans over the counter, motioning for Zayn to come closer, which he hesitantly does. 

"Okay, I have to say this very, very quickly, and I don't think I should be mentioning this, but do you like Niall? Because if you do I hightly recommend you ask him out because I think you're the person he's very nearly been breaking his neck for to see if you've come in, and yeah, that is, if you like him?" Liam asks all in one breath, looking at Zayn expectantly, who's world was just kinda tilted. Niall liked him? Does this mean he has a chance? 

"Are you joking, mate? Because I really like Niall and if he doesn't actually like me and-"

"Ubupbup! No! I've known him for a while, and I can tell. But if you hurt him, I'll chop your dick in half and sew the other half to your neck. We clear?" Zayn gulps,

"Sir yes sir". Liam grins at him, and walks away, ruffling Niall's hair as he passes. When the Irish boy approaches, Zayn doesn't even let him say anything before he blurts out, "do you wanna maybe catch a movie or go to dinner or like rock climbing some time?" he isn't sure where the rock climbing part came from, but he's just going to go with it. He looks at Niall's face to see it's a bright red, but he's got a small grin on his face.

"Uh, yeah, no I'd love to, Zayn! And you know what I think rock climbing would be one hell of a good time".

~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~>  
And that's how Zayn finds himself at an indoor rock wall, being strapped up to a harness.

"Alright, so all you have to do is just climb up the wall, when you feel like you want to come down, just shout down to me or Lindsay, who will also be working the wall, and one of us will tell you when you can repel. Sound good?" says the guy working the walls, eyeing Niall mostly, with a somewhat creepy expression. Zayn and Niall both nod, and they set off towards the racing walls.

 

"You're going down, Malik" Niall says, eyeing him challengingly. 

"Not a chance, runt. I'm gonna kick your ass" then maybe kiss you a little, but he doesn't say that aloud.

The employee- Derek is his name, counts them off and then off they go, both climbing as fast as they can up the wall, racing to get to their respective buttons first. In the end, it's Niall who wins, and Zayn pouts, pretending like he didn't let the smaller boy win, because nope, definitely not.

By the end of the night both boys are super tired, and are calling it quits.

"I'm just gonna go to the washroom then we'll go, okay?" Zayn says to Niall while stepping out of his harness. Niall agrees and takes Zayns harness along with his own to go give to the employee, and watches with a fond expression as Zayn rams into a wall, assures everyone he's alright and runs towards the washroom.

"So, did you have fun tonight?" Niall turns around to see Derek, grinning and leaning up against a wall. He smiles back and hands him the harnesses,

"Definitely! Never been rock climbing before so it was fun" he says.

"Really? Well I'm glad I could be part of the experience! Hey, why don't you give me your number? I think I'd like to take you out some time" he says, walking closer to Niall.

"Oh, um, Derek, I'm really flattered but I'm kind of seeing someone at the moment, thanks for the offer though". Derek rolls his eyes, advancing on Niall, making him back up until his back is against the wall.

"Come on, with that guy you were here with? He's boring. Why don't you try someone a little more, adventurous?". 

"No, I'm really not interested, thanks, though" Niall says firmly, trying to push past the employee, but he just places his arms on either side of the wall behind Niall, trapping him.

"Don't be stupid" he whispers in the blonds ear, giving Niall a waft of his strong cologne. He's not quite sure what to do now, should he yell for help? Kick him in the balls? Luckily, he doesn't have to decide,

"He fucking said no, you asshole", comes Zayns voice, walking up and pushing Derek off Niall, stepping protectively in front of him. "And I suggest you take your harnesses and leave us alone, before I talk to your manager and maybe punch you in the face" he says threateningly. Derek rolls his eyes,

"Don't know why I tried, anyway, you aren't even that good looking" he spits, before turning and walking away. Zayn immediately turns to Niall, pulls him in, and crushes him to his chest. 

"God, I leave you alone for two minutes and already another person is coming onto you. I'm so sorry, Niall, he's a dick head and what he said was a dick thing to say and I hope someone kicks him in the dick. Are you okay?"

"It's fine, Zayn, thanks for coming to the rescue, though. He wasn't very nice" Niall mumbles into where he's smushed against Zayns collar bone. 

"No, he definitely wasn't, let's go, we can go back to mine and watch TV or something". Niall agrees and they set off to the bus stop.

~>~>~>~>~~>~>~>~>~>~>~>~~>~>~>~>~>

Once they're back at Zayn's, they settle down on the couch with apple juice (because why the fuck not, they didn't need beer to have a good time), and frosted cupcake, and warm vanilla sugar scented candles lit, which Zayn swears his sister just left here, because he likes manly scents and manly things. 

But nonetheless, they're cuddled up on the couch, Niall tucked comfortably into Zayn's side, as they watch Hairspray on the TV. That's what Niall liked about Zayn, things were comfortable and natural, and there was none of that awkward moving closer and closer to each other until they're finally cuddling. Nope, it was just straight into "light the candles, get under my arm right now and let me snuggle the shit out of you".

"I fucking love this song" Zayn says, as 'Without Love' starts up. Niall grins and sings along quietly, and before he knows it Zayn has joined in, pulled him to his feet and they're singing at the top of their lungs while Zayn twirls Niall around and they attempt some sort of swing dance.

"WITHOUT LOVE! LIFE IS LIKE THE SEASONS WITH NO SUMMER!" Zayn yells, swinging his arms with Niall's. 

"WITHOUT LOVE! LIFE IS LIKE ROCK AND ROLL WITHOUT A DRUMMER!" Niall continues, with Zayn dipping him dramatically.

"DARLIN I'LL BE YOURS FOREVER CAUSE I NEVER WANNA BE WITHOUT LOOOOVVVEEE!" 

"DARLIN NEVER SET ME FREE!!"

The end of their impromptu living room musical number comes to a close with Niall being Niall, and accidentally kicking Zayns foot out from under him, causing him to come crashing to the floor, dragging Niall with him and ending up beneath him, with their lips hovering quite close to each other, though neither seemed to mind.

"Hi" he whispers, keeping his arms tightly encircled around Nialls small waist. 

"Hey" the blond whispers back, eyes darting down to Zayn's plump lips. 

"I'm gonna kiss you now"

"Please do". 

And with that, Zayn crashes his lips to Nialls. He tastes like mint and the chinese food they stopped in for before coming, home, and Zayn wouldn't want it any other way. 

Kissing Niall was like kissing- he doesn't even have a metaphor or whatever else he could use. Kissing Niall was in the simplest of terms, like kissing Niall. And it was the best way he could describe the kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> any feedback would be so great!! hope you enjoy :)


End file.
